第２１９掘：大軍の弱点 (Part1)
**Dungeon 219: The Weakness of a Great Army**
Well then, the preliminary skirmish—the true main event of the battle—has finally begun.
How will they manage to pull through this pinch?!
**The Weakness of a Great Army**
**Side: Yuki**
"Darling, this sector is mostly cleared out. I’m heading to the next one."
"Don't push yourself."
"Naturally. I’ll finish before the girls start crying."
No, is that really your benchmark?
"Sorry, Horst. It looks like this isn't going to turn into a proper battle after all."
"No, if there is a way to prevent needless bloodshed, I would choose that path as well."
The two of us were talking while waiting on the walls of Betan for the Enaria army’s reinforcements, which had yet to appear.
"However, are you truly certain about this? I do not mean to doubt the capabilities of your wives, but..."
"Thanks for worrying about them, Horst. Honestly, I’d be happier if they just laid low for a while."
"…I understand that sentiment. My own wife is quite skilled, but she could never stop five thousand enemies on her own. No matter how justified the cause, the actions of those ladies are enough to make one’s blood run cold."
"Tell me about it..."
I looked up at the sky in the direction where my wives should be.
"Striking the enemy's supply lines... indeed, there is no more effective method against a large army. Of course, it cannot be executed without the 'one-man-army' caliber of your wives. But those ladies are all too beautiful. And they aren't even trying to hide it. Can they truly perform covert operations? If my memory serves, that type prefers a head-on collision."
Horst looked at the sky in the same direction as I did while he spoke.
Yeah, that prediction is spot on.
In fact, they aren't even trying to hide.
They aren't going to burn the supplies in a head-on fight; they’re going to steal them.
*Sigh*, why must I live such anxious days?
Maybe I should have stopped them back then.
I drifted into thought, remembering when Seraria and the others first brought up the idea of sortieing.
"Alright, alright. I get it. You want to take the Goblins and Seraria’s group out to show we’re doing our part, right?"
"Glad you understand. That way, even though there are so few of us, we won't make our allies uneasy and it will look like we’re doing our jobs properly."
I listened to their strong desire and thought that, at the very least, crushing the enemy scouts wouldn't be a bad idea. I suppressed my doubts about having my wives—even if they were Doppelgangers—on the front lines.
"I understand how you feel, Seraria."
"So, we have permission to sortie?"
"But only to crush the scouts. Don't make it flashy. We’re supposed to keep our true strength hidden, remember?"
That’s right. The goal on this continent is strictly to investigate the magic depletion phenomenon. We should avoid drawing the attention of nations that might restrict our actions.
"Oh, how cruel. What if we get captured by soldiers and have 'this' or 'that' done to us?"
"Then you shouldn't go. If something like that happened to you, the girls and I would be devastated."
"I’m joking. Honestly, it’s nice that you cherish us, but that’s going a bit too far."
"If you think so, don't make weird jokes. So, show some restraint. For our future."
"Fine, fine. Then I’ll just take all of the enemy's supplies. That way, they can't fight, and no blood will be shed. It’s perfect."
"No, I told you not to be conspicuous..."
"Oh, we won't be. Who in this world would believe a report that a great army was defeated and stripped of their supplies by one or two women?"
"Wait..."
She’s right; no one would believe that.
Honestly, I didn't expect that kind of thinking to come from Seraria.
"Why are you so surprised? I’ve been reading Sun Tzu and the *Six Secret Teachings* lately; they’re quite interesting."
"I’m surprised you’re actually applying those concepts. Try to remember what you were like a little while ago."
She used to be a "head-on-collision-is-everything" charge-in girl.
"I was young then. Besides, what choice did I have? As someone who fought on the front lines, those kinds of tactics and strategies felt like having my spotlight stolen. I’m fine with it now since I’m the one crafting the strategies."
"I see... Still, what you’re saying makes sense. And you’re going to steal them instead of burning them?"
"Exactly. We’ll steal them. Conveniently, we’ve been granted Item Boxes by Runa, so taking tens of thousands of units of supplies is easy."
That’s right—stealing instead of burning is a method unique to this world of swords and magic. Usually, stealing takes more time and effort, making burning more convenient, but this world, fueled by magic, is different.
The Item Box—specifically the skill-based Item Box—is a convenient ability that allows you to store anything you can touch and fit inside. Adventurers like Mauve and Ovik have tools with similar functions, like item bags, but those require the physical action of holding the item and putting it inside. You can't put in anything larger than the opening, and you certainly can't store things you can't lift.
Furthermore, most magic has declined on this continent, and things like Item Boxes only exist in old literature.
So, from the enemy’s perspective, it will be completely incomprehensible.
Well, that assumes they have the strength to steal the supplies, but based on our experiments, there’s no way Seraria and the others would fall behind the Enaria army. Besides, they are Doppelgangers; if anything happens, I’ll get a report immediately.
"With this, we’ll have the scouts Horst sends out lead the enemy toward areas where there are none, and then we’ll strike. It’s perfect."
"And what happens after that? The enemy will be stranded without supplies. The exhausted main force of the Enaria army will probably be coming out of the dungeon soon, right?"
"Well, obviously we’ll capture them. We’ll have a perfectly good excuse, won't we? We can say that while the enemy was unable to resist due to a lack of supplies, we launched a decisive attack and successfully captured the generals."
"You’ve got the whole script written out, don't you?"
"We need to kick the enemy out quickly so we can have a proper talk with the Holy Sword users we entrusted to Marly and Olive, right?"
"Oh, right, those guys. I’d forgotten about them because of the Dullahan incident."
"Ah, come to think of it, they served the previous occupant of this continent, didn't they?"
"Yeah. But they’re quite... excited? Or rather, it’s been a long time since the previous occupant, so sorting through the information is a real pain."
"That can't be helped. The previous occupant was betrayed by their own kin, wasn't it? If that happened to you, Yuki, I’d destroy the world."
When Seraria said that without a hint of hesitation, the other wives nodded in agreement.
"That’s terrifying, and it’s pointless, so don't destroy the world."
What is that? The idea that they’d destroy the world just because I was killed is way too scary.
"Well, there’s Yuki’s 'Designated Protection' skill, and above all, we’re all capable wives, so there’s no need to worry about that."
The other wives nodded at this as well.
"Back to the topic, that’s how we’ll starve the Enaria army of supplies and drive them away."
"You’re going to end up with a lot of starving people and bandits. Can you really let that happen in the territory Horst governs?"
"It’ll be fine. Before we pursue them, we’ll promise them food supplies if they surrender."
"Are you a demon? And you’re planning to use the food you stole to supply them, aren't you?"
"Of course. It’s a waste to let it rot, and if it encourages them to surrender and prevents them from starving or becoming bandits, don't you think it’s a good thing?"
Like this, although I had my objections to the strategy Seraria and the others chose, it was the most logical approach in terms of minimizing casualties, so I adopted it.
However, the plan to fight alongside Horst in Betan and have them underestimate our strength had been shattered into pieces.
"Hey, Steve."
"What is it all of a sudden?"